The Internet is a powerful business tool. However, it’s also the least utilized tool among various real estate professionals.
Consumers use the Internet when they need to find homes or research a real estate agent. Undoubtedly, the Internet has changed how renting and purchasing homes and properties are conducted.
Because of the powerful appeal of the Internet, thousands of real estate professionals opt to have a website.
But, just like any other business, it’s not enough to have a good-looking website. Rather, your site has to be properly optimized for the search engines.
In that way, people who are looking to buy a property or rent an apartment can find your site and browse your offering.
So, what are the possible ways to boost your real estate site’s SEO?
1. Choose the Right Keywords
The most popular tool for this job is Google Adwords. You need to create an account to use it, but you don’t have to set up an ad campaign.
Simply, go to its Google Keyword Planner tool to give you some ideas on the right keywords to use for your website to get traffic and increase leads and sales.
But how should you research the keywords?
One of the keyword strategies to consider is whether or not a specific term expresses buying intent. In this case, the prospect is ready to use your service immediately.
This kind of keyword may look like, “buy a property in Idaho.” Feature this keyword on your homepage. Then, build your pages around it.
Another keyword approach to consider is the research intent. In here, the shopper is just looking around. In other words, he or she is not ready to purchase, sell or rent a property right now.
Although the shoppers don’t have the intention to buy, you should not dismiss this keyword. You can still use it for some of your pages, like FAQs or blog posts.
2. Optimize the Website for Your Keywords
Once your keywords are ready, you can now use them to optimize your website and Google MyBusiness Page. The latter is vital so that your office location appears in the Google Maps.
It gives an overview of your company, and it improves your overall online local presence.
To optimize your website, you should include your keywords on your homepage and service pages. As mentioned earlier, use the buying intent keywords on these pages.
Then, the research intent keywords can be used on your other, more informational content pages.
On your homepage, include the buying intent keyword in your title tag and description. It should also be in the header tags, like H1, H2, etc.
3. Ask Clients for Reviews
Customer reviews and testimonials are vital to your SEO campaign.
They’re not only great for SEO but also for your prospects. Reviews can convince your prospects to try your services.
Reviews will tell your visitors that your business is legitimate.
You can go to review sites, set up an account, and encourage your clients to review your services.
When they post their reviews, add them to your website as well.
To collect reviews, you may send an email to your previous and current clients. Ask them to go to your Google MyBusiness page and leave their review.
If you do this frequently, you’ll have a stream of new reviews.
4. Add Top-Notch Photos
You want the properties you sell or for rent to make a stunning first impression on your visitors.
That’s why you must only add images which have been photographed by a talented professional.
In this way, the photos will highlight the most striking features of the property.
The images must be enticing enough to compel your visitors to purchase or rent the house.
5. Build Relationships With Other Realtors
You need to have a healthy professional relationship with other real estate professionals, bloggers who talk about real estate, and other people who are in the same industry as yours.
Why?
The primary goal here is to gather links. Links are vital to SEO. But you can’t just have links. They must be from websites with authority.
One of the ways to build links is by publishing high-quality blog posts.
You need to be a thought leader in the industry so that people will follow your website and give you a link back.
Inbound links from authoritative websites will give your site a higher Google ranking.
You can build a relationship with companies that offer the same services like yours and ask for trade links.
You may use Moz Open Site Explorer to find the websites of other real estate agents in your area.
6. Monitor your results
You’ll never know whether or not your campaign is successful if you don’t track your results.
You should analyze your rankings, traffic, and conversions.
Once you have this data, you’ll know what aspects of your website or link profile still require tweaking.
Feature Image Credit: CC 0; Public Domain. Original feature image sourced from Pixabay.com.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
Catrin Cooper
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- 6 Easy Ways To Improve SEO For a Real Estate Website - February 13, 2018
